


It's A Nice Day To Start Again

by mzhlf



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Arranged Marriage, F/F, Fluff, Humor, Marriage of Convenience, imagined nations, though there might be just a tiny bit of commentary relevant to current events, yes I am tagging both, you'll see why in a minute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-06
Updated: 2017-07-06
Packaged: 2018-11-28 13:38:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11419101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mzhlf/pseuds/mzhlf
Summary: General Danvers Week 2 - Day Four - Arranged Marriage/Marriage Of Convenience AUIn which Astra, a political refugee, experiences a mortifying mishap with the conscientious foreigner providing her asylum.





	It's A Nice Day To Start Again

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go, fourth day of GDW! Hope everyone's having fun. This is gonna be short and fluffy.
> 
> The title was taken from Billy Idol - White Wedding.

Astra sets her bags by the neatly made bed, taking in her new living quarters.

Walls bare. Furnishings sparse. Desk by the window empty except for a thin black lamp. Square silver electric alarm clock lonely on the nightstand. Large walk-in closet open and hollow.

It feels less like moving in with someone and more like getting a place of her own.

“Uh, sorry it’s a bit dull,” Alex apologizes preemptively from outside the doorway, “this used to be the guest bedroom.”

“I don’t mind it at all,” Astra says honestly, offering Alex a gentle smile which she quickly returns, but then just as quickly averts her gaze from.

Alex clears her throat. “Still, feel free to decorate. And help yourself to whatever’s in the apartment.”

Astra braces her forearm against the doorframe and nods attentively, not that Alex can see it with her eyes pointed squarely at her feet.

“We should have all the basic necessities, but if you need anything else, there’s a store a little ways down the street.” Alex is standing stiffly, hands fidgeting at her sides, and it reminds Astra rather endearingly of a student reciting a list of dates for a history teacher.

“I will keep that in mind,” Astra says agreeably.

“I mailed out your citizenship application this afternoon. Will keep you posted on the progress, though it’ll probably be at least a few months.” Her eyes flicker to Astra’s briefly on their way toward the ceiling. “Am I missing anything else? Good god, I feel like I’m missing something.” She thinks about it for a moment longer before giving up with a shrug. “Oh well, it’ll come to me.” Alex starts to turn away from the door. “Anyway! I should let you -”

Astra stalls her movement with a hand on her arm, the unexpected contact finally startling Alex into making more than two seconds of eye-contact.

“You can stay,” Astra gives her arm a little squeeze, a gesture that she hopes is reassuring. Even though she hasn't properly laid down in almost forty-eight hours, the adrenaline of the past few days has yet to run its course and there’s no denying how much she wants a bit more time to get to know Alex. “I may have a fearsome reputation in the military,” she jokes mildly, “but I am no cannibal.”

Alex blows out a breath. “I know.” She lets her shoulders drop to loosen some of the built-up tension and leans against the other side of the doorway, keeping a half-barrier between them even as she visibly relaxes. “Sorry,” she says with a wryly apologetic look. “I’ve never done anything remotely like this before. I guess I’m just a little afraid of screwing something up.”

Astra allows herself to admire the courageous foreigner who has forever changed her life. “I do not think that is possible,” she says. “You risked imprisonment to smuggle me out of Argo City. I owe you my life.”

Alex shakes her head with conviction. “You don't owe me anything at all. All I wanted was to do the right thing.”

“Not everyone would have been willing to break the law to do so.”

Alex shrugs and there’s a hint of defiance in her eyes which Astra finds to be utterly charming. “Until the Republic of Midvale relearns its basic principles and stops turning away refugees, its laws are not my laws.”

The warmth in Astra’s chest pulls her forward like every cell in her body is magnetized. “I wish more people were like you,” she murmurs, sliding her hand up to Alex cheek.

Alex’s eyes flicker toward that tender touch and she tenses a little with what Astra believes is self-consciousness. “That’s… uh, really very kind of you to say.” Her cheeks are turning red again. “But it’s really not such a big -”

But Astra steps in even closer, a moth seeking out a flame. She had witnessed Alex’s bravery and quick-thinking in their escape, and this combination of passionate idealism and how clever and beautiful and _close_ she is only serves to ignite her further. “It is merely the truth,” she insists. “You are so very special to me, Alexandra Danvers. With time, I might grow to love you more than life itself.”

Between being a little affected by her words, and more than a little stunned, Alex is too slow to react as Astra completely closes the distance between them.

Astra’s lips are soft and coaxing, and Alex yields to her for the briefest of moments, mouth parting around the tip of Astra’s tongue - before her mind catches up to her and she firmly pushes her away, taking a step back for good measure.

“Wait.” There’s a breathy quality to Alex’s voice which she clears her throat to get rid of. “What - what are we doing?” she asks, more disoriented than offended.

“I’m sorry,” Astra looks a little shaken for the first time since they arrived at their shared home. “Was that too much? I should have asked rather than assumed.”

“It’s okay,” Alex says, bringing her fingers to her lips in a flushed daze.

Astra frowns curiously at her expression - discomfort or embarrassment, she might understand if Alex is shy or simply doesn’t desire her. But mostly she looks… surprised? “It is not customary in Midvale to kiss your spouse after the wedding itself?” Astra hazards a guess.

“No. I mean - _yes!_ Normally we do,” Alex stumbles through an explanation, “I just, didn’t think this was that kind of a situation.”

Astra knits her brow. “We are married, are we not?”

“We just met in person two days ago,” Alex argues. “And it was the first time we’d ever spoken without your allies as a go-between.”

Astra stares blankly, failing to see the relevance of her point.

Alex stares blankly back. Midvale is close enough to Krypton to share a common tongue, but something is clearly getting lost in translation.

It’s almost as if they grew up in two completely different cultures.

Their both arrive at the same conclusion, as they cringe practically in unison. Astra closes her eyes. Alex buries her face in her hands.

“ _Oh_ my god,” Alex groans.

“Of _course_ ,” Astra moans in mortification, the color rising in her face to match Alex’s in sheer intensity. “How could I not have -”

“Arranged marriages are the norm where you’re from!” Alex articulates the difference in understanding at the root of it all. “So of course you wouldn't think anything of meeting me a few days before the wedding.”

“Alex, I am so very sorry,” Astra apologizes even more sincerely once the reality of the situation really sinks in. Disappointment smarts sourly in her stomach when she realizes just how terribly she has misunderstood all of this. But _that,_ she can deal with behind the privacy of closed doors.

Of much graver import is that Alex never wanted a wife, and had only married Astra so that she could apply for the documents that would protect her under Midvalian law. And Astra has just repaid her kindness by practically forcing a kiss on her… after she’d been looking so ill-at-ease, no less. “Are you alright?” she asks soberly, kicking herself for getting so carried away, with a foreigner no less. “If you wish for me to leave -”

This time, it’s Alex’s turn to initiate physical contact. “No Astra,” she reassures quickly, taking ahold of her hand. “I don’t want that at all. I’m okay, really.” Astra searches her face for any sign of forced politeness, and Alex underlines her next words with a firm nod. “It was an honest misunderstanding.”

Astra observes a moment longer in concern, as Alex looks back with reassurance. And it’s in this moment of mutual focus, that Alex also glimpses the subtlest shadow of pain in the downward cast of her eyes and the diminished curvature of her mouth. She realizes, with a tender pang, that throughout this entire ordeal, Astra had seen her not only as an ally, but as someone she would care for and eventually love, and that only moments ago, Astra had been willing - happy, even - to begin that life with her.

Guilt bubbles up to the surface, wrapped up a thread of truth: by playing it cautious, Alex had left Astra to bear the burden of desire alone. Perhaps that pain could have been avoided if only she had been more honest.

“Although it wasn’t completely unwelcome,” Alex admits, glossing over her own vulnerability with an offhanded tone.

The pretense doesn’t fool Astra for a second. Her eyes hone in on Alex’s face with a quiet intensity that once again thickens the air between them. “Meaning what, exactly?” she prompts deliberately, and Alex sighs, praying to whatever deity might be tuning in for just a little bit of extra courage.

“Meaning... maybe it wasn’t just the situation itself that made me nervous,” Alex says, referring to her earlier distance. “I just wasn’t expecting someone quite so…” she searches for a good word, before pushing her shoulders up in a gesture of surrender, “mesmerizing?”

One of Astra’s eyebrows twitches upward as cautious hope shifts part-way into exasperated affection. “You found me _mesmerizing_ ,” she repeats, tone bordering on droll. “And it made you _nervous._ ”

“I thought we were just gonna be roommates so I didn’t wanna make things awkward,” Alex justifies, and it takes more than a little bit of Astra’s old military training not to act _too_ excited about her use of the past tense.

“Courtship in Midvale is a prolonged affair, is it not?” she asks thoughtfully.

Alex nods, relieved for the focus to shift from her feelings to her culture. That, she finds a lot easier to talk about. “Some couples date for years before even getting engaged.”

Astra stares at her incredulously for a moment. “Years? To what end? What takes them such a long time to decide?”

“Well... first they’d have to agree that there even _is_ a decision,” Alex explains. “Not everyone dates because they're looking to get married. Actually, most of it is probably just for fun. Some people assume it's casual by default until you sit down and talk about it and explicitly define it as something more serious. Although,” she considers, “indecisiveness is definitely an issue for some."

Astra shakes her head. “It seems like a thoroughly ineffectual practice, rife with potential for misunderstanding,” she judges, eliciting a chuckle from Alex.

“I guess in some ways it is,” she allows easily.

“But suppose I wished to court a Midvalian,” Astra returns to her initial line of thought, returns to that intensity. “Where would I begin?”

There’s a compelling weight to the question that doesn’t feel nearly as overbearing at should. If anything, Alex finds herself surprisingly well-fitted for its warm promise. “For a first date, a nice dinner is pretty standard,” she says, holding Astra’s gaze and drawing upon her boldness to smile enigmatically. “And after that? Who knows?”

**Author's Note:**

> Right! Thank you for reading this lovely bit of nonsense. Comments are appreciated as always, and constructive criticism is welcome.


End file.
